Process of distilling wood



Patented May 24, 1932 y UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE GUSTAV EGLOFF AND HARRY P. BENNER, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNORS T UNI- 'V'ERSAL OIL PRODUCTS COMPANY,.. OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF SOUTH DAKOTA PROCESS OF DISTILLING WOOD Application filed March 19, 1926, Serial No. 95,838. Renewed March 30, 1931.

cure the desirable products naturally con-4 tained in the ywood or produced therefrom, but We believe we are the rst to thermally decompose said wood to produce said products by subjecting the wood to ,direct physical Contact with a highly heated hydrocarbon.

The single ligure in the drawing is a diagrammatic side elevational view, partly in vertical section, of an apparatus suitable for carrying out the present invention.

Referring more in detail to the drawing, 1 designates a raw oil line provided with pump 2 and valve 3 leading from any suitable source of supply and being divided at the point marked X. Regulated portions of the oil may be fed through the line 4, controlled by valve 5, which line 4 communicates with the heating tube 6; or regulated portions may be diverted into the upright line 7 controlled by valve 8, discharging controlled' quantities of raw oil into the dephlegmator 9. The heating tube 6 may take the form of connected lengths of elongated piping mounted in the furnace, illustrated diagrammatically at 10, which may be heated by the burner illustrated diagrammatically at 11.

The charging oil passing through the heating tube 6 may be heated to a conversion temperature of, say, 900 F. The heated oil may e passed through the transfer line 11', controlled by valve 12, and introduced preferably into the lower portion of a reaction or decomposing chamber 13 provided with removable manhole plates 14 at its to and bottom, and with the residue draw-o p lines 15, controlled by valves 16.

In the drawing, we have illustrated a vertically disposed chamber 13. It is to be understood that this chamber may take any form which is found to be suitable for the 5 purpose, and may be of any size, for instance,

up to a diameter of, say, 14 feet, and a height of feet. There may be any number of residue draw-off lines 15, controlled by valves 16. It is also to be understood that any number of chambers 13 may be connected into a battery, being supplied with heated oil from aI common heating system. v

The interior of the chamber 13 may be filled with wood, illustrated diagrammatically at 17 in the form of, say, small blocks or in similar finely divided condition. This wood may be introduced through the manhole plates 14, in an obvious manner, b'y a hopper or the like. Portions of the heated oil introduced into the reaction chamber 13 throughthe line 11. will vaporize and will pass upwardly through the mass of broken up wood. This, in effect, will act as an initial dephlegmator, at the same time heating the wood to a temperature at which the volatile fractions thereof will vaporize and become intermingled with the hydrocarbon vapors, the vaporous products being discharged at the top of the chamber 13 through the line 18, controlled by valve 19, into the lower portion of the dephlegmator 9. This dephlegmator is provided with the usual baflles illustrated at 20. In their passage upwardly through the dephlegmator 9, the heavier ends or fractions of the vapors will be condensed and will fall down into the line or reiluxleg 21, controlled by valve 22, and in which line 21 a pump may be inserted; or the reflux may be by-passed through the by-pass line 24,' the valves 25 being opened and the valves 26 being closed. Any regulated portions, or all, of the reflux may be withdrawn from the system through the line 27, controlled by the valve 28.

Those vapors which remain uncondensed after passage through the dephlegmator may be withdrawn through the line 29, controlled by valve 30, and condensed in the condenser coil 31 mounted in condenser box 32, the condensed products beingpcollected in the receiver 33, which may be provided with the, gas relief line 34, controlled by valve 35, and

'with the liquid draw-'oft` line 36, controlled by valve 3 I.

The operation of the vprocess should be apparent from the foregoing description. A uniform pressure of from three pounds above atmospheric to several hundred pounds may be maintained on different parts of the system by proper manipulation of the various valves described. It i's obvious 'that when a high pressure is to be employed, the height and diameter of the reaction chambers 13 are so regulated as to produce an operating structure. It may be pointed out, however, that a preferred operating pressure may be between 50 and 7 5 pounds per square inch on the material in the expansion chamber 13.

It is also obvious that the process may bc operated under atmospheric pressure by proper manipulation of the various valves, in an obvious manner to those skilled in the art, and the processmay also be operated under vacuum, if desired, by means of the vacuum pump 362i An outlet line 37a, controlled by valve 38, communicates with the line 34. Y

From the above,'it will be apparent that we simultaneously crack a hydrocarbon oil and thermally decompose a body of wood. The vaporous products from both the cracking and the thermal ecomposition of the wood are intermingle with each other and condensed, and after condensation may be separated by the usual methods well known in the arts.

Among some of the products which. will be produced as a necessary incident to the present process may be \listed alcohols, acids, resinous material, and high anti-knock property motor fuel, containing highly unsaturated hydrocarbons and aromatic hydrocarbon and nitrogen compounds which have properties which will operate successfully high compression motors beyond those that are now in general use.

We claim as our invention:

1. The method of distillation of wood which consists in packing the wood in an enlarged zone of reaction, heating hydrocarbon oil to a cracking temperature, discharging the heated oil into the enlarged zone of reaction whereby the wood is distilled by the heated oil, withdrawing the vapors from said zone and subjecting them to dephlegmation, thereby forming a reflux condensate, returning the reflux condensate to the heating stage, and finally collecting as the product of the process t e combined vapors derived from the oil and wood which are uncondensed by said dephlegmation step.

2. The method of distillation of wood, which consists in heating the wood to a tem= perature of the order of 900 F., withdrawing the vapors evolved by the heated wood, subjecting said vapors to dephleation, introducing hydrocarbon oil to said dephlegmation step in direct contact with the vapors as a cooling medium, portions of said oil being vaporized by said contact, and condensing as a product of the process the commingled oil and wood vapors uncondensed in said dephlegmation step.

' 3. The .method of distilling wood which consists in maintaining a body of wood in an enlarged zone of reaction, heating hydrocarbon oil to a cracking temperature and discharging it into said zone of reaction wherein vapors are evolved from the wood and oil, withdrawing wood and oil residuum'from said Zone without returning it to the heating stage, subjecting the evolved vapors to dephlegmation, thereby forming a reflux condensate containing wood and oil derivatives, withdrawing said reflux condensate from the dephlegmation step, and finally'condensing the wood and oil vapors uncondensed in said dephlegmation step.

4. A process for distilling wood which comprises introducing the wood to an enlarged zone, passing a hydrocarbon oilin a restricted stream through a heating zone and heating 'the same'therein to at least the distillation temperature of the Wood, then discharging a sufficient quantity of the thus heated oill into intimate contact with the wood to effect substantial distillation of the latter, removing oil vapors and vapor evolved from the wood from said enlarged zone and temperature under pressure, then discharging the thus heated oil into intimate contact with the Wood in said enlarged zone, the amount and temperature of the heated yoil being suiicient to effect substantial distillation of the wood whereby the latter need not be additionally heated toeffect its distillation, and removing from said zone for condensation andy collection the cracked oil vapors and the vapors evolved from the wood.

GUSTAV EGLOFF. HARRY P. 'BENNER 

